I really don't like to teach grammar. I have a few reasons, but the "selfish" one is that I have never found a way to incorporate it into my own teaching style and -- for that reason -- it often feels isolated and formulaic. After all, grammar is like most math -- you can look up the answer. So, other than "trying" to make it fun or explaining it for kids who struggle, I feel like the teacher doesn't have much of a role.

Lately, there has been much talk of flipped instruction, and it occurred to me that grammar might be a good choice for flipping. After all, the information is available online so the students can go through it at their own pace, AND I can just do the troubleshooting and connecting without the lecture.

Seems like a win/win. If it works well and the kids don't struggle with it too much, I will pull together all of my "required" grammar lessons this way. This would allow me to maximize classroom instructional time and to spend more time on reading :)

Trying a new approach to grammar

Lesson Planning: Trying a new approach to grammar

Gerunds, Participles, Infinitives

Gerunds, Participles, Infinitives

Unit 14: Those Pesky Grammar and Language Lessons
Lesson 1 of 2

Objective: SWBAT differentiate between gerunds, participles, and infinitives. SWBAT construct sentences using each type of verbal.

This lesson is my first foray into using flipped instruction for grammar. For the purposes of clarity, what I mean by flipped instruction is that the students watch a PowerPoint (that I found online*) that will do the "information delivery" function (that I would normally do) and then I will work with them on guided practice. After they seem to have a pretty good grasp on the material, I will have them practice it together.

So, last night, I had students watch a PowerPoint on gerunds, participles, and infinitives. They had a sheet to guide them, and I put about fifteen practice sentences on the back (all they had to do was mark the sentences with a G for gerund, P for participle, and I for infinitive. They also had to fill in some definitions and examples on front of the sheet, just to help them keep the three terms straight.

* There are some great grammar resources online. I like this PowerPoint for middle school because it has graphics and it is chunked nicely.

Resources (1)

Resources

When the students come in, I ask them to take out their homework and we talk about the different verbals. If it seems like they are a little stumped or confused, I walk them through a DIFFERENT slideshow (from SlideShare) and also use the whiteboard to diagram sentences. We haven't diagrammed sentences formally yet, so this is actually a practical way to introduce the skill. (It shows that diagramming sentences isn't a pointless activity, which it can feel like when you are doing it in isolation.)

Resources (1)

Resources

Now that we have "done" verbals for a while, the students need to practice writing their verbals. So, I have them use my set of small classroom whiteboards to construct verbal phrases.

I give them a verb, like "bark" and then they decide to write a sentence with a gerund, participle, or infinitive in it. Then the partner can try to figure out which kind of verbal it is.(Depending on how adept the students are at working with the information, they can write phrases for each other or they can try to write them together.)

Using the whiteboard makes it more of a game, which the kids enjoy.

**Adaptation if you are short on time: I had to come up with this adaptation for my plan because we had a two hour delay this morning, due to weather. Because we didn't have time for kids to pass out whiteboards and do the activity, I just called some kids up to the whiteboards in the front of the room and gave them a verb to manipulate. It worked fine, but they do enjoy "facing off" with the whiteboards.

I am returning to the classroom after a five year absence. The scuttle butt as we were waiting outside the HR office contained the phrase "flipped instruction". The bright side is that I am at the beginning of this wave as it hits the St. Louis area. Do you have any thoughts about flipping? or any sites you have found useful in finding the "explanation/lectures" for students???